Catamenial garment



March 27, 1934. E 1,952,213

CATAMENIAL GARMENT Filed Oct. 22, 1932 INVENTOR. MOL L/E M YER BY 8 z aA 5 ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 27, 1934 UNITED STATES CATAMENIAL GARMENTMollie Myer, New York, N. Y.. s

Application October 22, 1932, Serial No. 639,019

2 Claims. (Cl. 128-287) The present invention relates to improvements incatamenial garments and particularly to a combined garment taking theplace of a sanitary belt and bloomers.

An object of this invention is to provide a step-in garment of improvedsanitary double layer crotch construction without any seams, folds, orstitching on the exposed inner layer of fabric in the crotch portion,whereby said inner layer will lie flat when removed from the wearerafter use and may be thoroughly cleansed.

Another object of this invention resides in removing a plurality oftriangular portions from the outer fabric layer at both side edges ofthe crotch portion so as to contract the sides and impart a curved ortrough-like form to the outer layer of said crotch.

Another object of this invention is to use waterproof elastic fabric forthe flat inner layer fo material in the crotch, the said inner layerassuming substantially the same curved form as the concave ortrough-like form of the outer fabric, when in use and secured to thewearer, thus providing a waterproof receptacle adapted to closely engagewith the usual absorbent pad and hold it firmly in place against thebody of the wearer.

Another object of this invention resides in providing two concealeddouble-slotted tabs secured centrally of said crotch as shown in Figure2 and adapted for frictional engagement with the ends of the absorbentpad to keep said pad in central position in the curved crotch withoutthe use of safety pins.

Another object of this invention is to increase the convenience andefficiency of the garment by providing a porous fabric insert at thebottom of the outer fabric layer 11 of the crotch to allow forcirculation of air between the inner and outer layers of the crotch.

With the above and other objects in view the invention will behereinafter more particularly described, and the combination andarrangement of parts will be shown in the accompanying drawing andpointed out in the claims which form part of this specification. Itbeing understood that the embodiment herewith shown is merelyillustrative and that various minor changes in the form, proportion,size and details of construction within the scope of the claims, may beresorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention asexpressed in the appended claims; V

Reference will now be had to the drawing, wherein like numerals ofreference designate -therefrom towards the waist.

corresponding parts throughout the several views, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective .view showing one embodiment of my improvedcatamenial garment. t

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view, the section being taken as online 22 in Figure 1 and outer layers being incurved.

Figure 3 is a plan view of a slotted tab.

Figure 4 is a plan view of a flap.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the tab assembly, thesection being taken as or: line 55 in Fig. 2.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, reference character 10indicates my catamenial garment, comprising an outer fabric layer 11,folded into front and rear sections 12, 13, and preferably open at bothside portions, 14, 14. The waist portions are lapped and stitched toform waist bands 15, 16, adapted to have elastic ribbons 17, 18,fastened therein and uniting the front and rear portions of the outerfabric 11, into garment-forming relation, and forming a yieldable waistband adapted to conform to slight differences in the size of waist ofthe wearer. A hook and eye set 19 fastens the elastic ribbon 18, to thewaist band 16, and when opened facilitates stepping into the garment andalso serves to secure more or less tension on the elastic ribbons 1'7,18, to hold the garment in place.

The crotch 20 is of narrowed width and is positioned at the middle andbottom portion of the garment and is gradually increased in width Theside edges of the crotch and waist sections form continuous linesthroughout the full length of the garment,

the openings thus provided constituting leg openings. v

- The front section 12 of the garment is of generally triangular formand smaller than the rear section 13 and is adapted to extend upwardlyover the abdomen and over the hips.

The lower end of the outer fabricll forming the crotch 20 has aplurality of triangular portions 21, 21,/removed along both its sideedges so as to contract the sides of and impart a curved or trough-likeform to the outer fabric of the crotch. A layer of flat water-proofelastic fabric 22,- such as velvet rubber, has been positioned inside ofthe concave or trough-like crotch and is fastened to the outer layer 11at both side edges by means of strips of narrow soft binding material23, 23.

with the absorbent pad in position and the inner As shown in Figure 2,an absorbent pad 24, of well known make, may be placed in frictionalengagement and centrally positioned in the crotch 20, and has therespective end portions 25 secured to the crotch by means of passing therespective ends 25 through parallel slots 26,26, in a tab 27 of stiffmaterial secured centrally of said crotch to the inner layer 22 andouter layer 11, as shown in Figure 2. The tab 27 is concealed andprevented from contacting with the body of the wearer by means of flaps28, of soft material, which cover the tabs. The absorbent pad is thuskept in central position in the crotch without the use of safety pins.

As shown in Figure 1, a porous fabric insert 29, such as fine mesh linenhaving minute apertures 30, has been provided at the bottom of the outerfabric layer of the crotch to allow the entrance and circulation of airinside the garment between the inner layer 22 and the outer layer 11 tomake the garment 10, more comfortable, the air entering through theapertures 30, and leaving at points 31, 31, where the end portions ofthe inner layer 22 are not secured to the outer layer 11, as shown inFigure 2.

The design of this improved catamenial garment is such that the innerlayer of the crotch or entire portion underlying the sanitary pad iswater-proof, flat and without any gathering of the material when not inuse and thus forming a cleansable shield or sanitary apron for theprevention of the soiling or staining of the outer garments.

The catamenial garment may be easily removed' for changing the absorbentpad and the inner layer of the crotch being made of fiat elasticwater-proof material resumes its fiat form when not in use and can bereadily washed and kept in a perfectly clean and sanitary condition.

I claim:

1. A catamenial garment comprising two layers of material at the crotchand consisting of an outer fabric layer having a narrow crotch portion,said outer crotch layer having a plurality of triangular portionsremoved from both sides and causing said layer to contract into concaveform; an elastic, waterproof, flat and ungathered inner layer bound tothe contracted sides of the outer layer; two slotted pad-securing tabscentrally secured with the ends of the inner layer to the upper portionsof the outer layer and leaving upper side portions of the inner layerunsecured to said outer layer, a porous fabric insert in the outer layerat the bottom of the crotch for air circulation between the inner andouter non-porous layers of the crotch and through openings at saidunsecured portions of said inner layer, said elastic innerlayer beingincurved to said concave outer layer when in use and being fiat andungathered when removed from the wearer for cleansing after use.

2. A catamenial garment comprising two layers of material at the crotchand consisting of an outer fabric layer having a narrow crotch portion,said outer crotch layer having a plurality of triangular portionsremoved from both sides and causing said layer to contract into concaveform; an elastic, waterproof, flat and ungathered inner layer bound tothe contracted sides of the outer layer; two pad-securing tabs centrallysecured with the ends of the inner layer to the upper portions of theouter layer, said elastic

